A memorial victory in a memorable race
In a race marked by dozens of punctures and other mechanical issues as well as numerous crashes, the favorites were also not spared by the infernal cobblestones that covered one-fifth of the 258.3km course from Compiègne to Roubaix. The race called the “Hell of the North” for good reason ended with a two-man sprint in the Vélodrome André-Pétrieux in Roubaix.
After riding together for 54km, Pogačar led van Aert into the velodrome and onto the final lap. The Visma–Lease a Bike rider attacked with half a lap left to ride, burst past the world champion and held his advantage until the finish line, where he pointed at the sky as a tribute to his late friend and teammate, Michael Goolaerts, who died after suffering a heart attack at the 2018 Paris-Roubaix. Van Aert had said it had been his goal to win the race ever since.
“It means everything to me. It’s been a goal since 2018, when I first did this race,” he said afterwards. “It’s now eight years ago I lost a teammate, Michael Goolaerts. Ever since it’s been my goal to come here and point my finger to the sky.”
But that was not the only reason he burst into tears shortly after crossing the line. It has been a difficult few years for van Aert, after he suffered a series of injuries, both on the road and in cyclocross, with victories few and far between. Finally fully recovered, he had come into this year targeting both the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, but he suffered a broken ankle and sprained ligaments on January 2during a cyclocross race in the snow.
Though he made a remarkably rapid recovery, his training was set back for several weeks. But after struggling in several early races, he finished a good third in Milan–San Remo, a heart-breaking second in Dwars door Vlaanderen, when Filippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers) chased him down 150m from the finish line, and a disappointing fourth in the Tour of Flanders, won by Pogačar. But he kept the faith in himself.
“I did stop believing a lot of times,” he said. “But the next time I always woke up and fought for it again. There’s no more beautiful way then to go to the line with the world champion. He’s a true champion and gave me such a hard time. . . . Beating him in the sprint, mano-a-mano, is very special to me.” The Slovenian had won all his races so far this year and was trying to become the first rider to hold all five Monuments titles at the same time.
“When I entered the velodrome I was just sticking to my plan,” van Aert added. “In my dreams and in my preparation I did this sprint so many times already, so I knew exactly what to do. The hardest part was coming to the velodrome I would say; there were so many attacks of Tadej, so many times where I was on the limit to stay in his wheel. It was all worth it.”
Van Aert’s victory on Sunday was much merited and almost universally appreciated, not only by his friends and fans, but by almost everyone who is a fan of the sport and has suffered with him over the past few years. It’s telling that as he sat sobbing on the floor, the first person other than a coach who congratulated him was his arch-nemesis Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin–Premier Tech), who had won the three previous editions of the race.
Hell on wheels
Van der Poel’s attempt to become the first rider to win the race four times in succession was undone by the hellish French cobblestones. In a race in which everyone suffered mechanical issues, van der Poel may have suffered more than anyone. He had a flat on the infamous Arenberg cobblestone section, with his team car far behind and the finish line 94km away.
Teammate Jasper Philipsen offered him his bike, but van der Poel deemed it unfit for his purpose. Then another teammate, Tibor del Grosso, offered him his front wheel and even put it on van der Poel’s bike. But the bike also punctured on the Arenberg cobbles. So he started walking back towards the start to meet the team car. By the time he received a proper bicycle, he was 2 minutes behind the front of the race, where a nine-rider group soon formed that included van Aert and Pogačar.
The world champion had had his first of three punctures 120km from the line and expended a lot of energy rejoining the front group. Van Aert had to overcome two flat tires as modern tire technology took a heavy hit from the unforgiving Paris-Roubaix cobblestones.
“I think most of the people today had problems with the punctures,” Pogačar said after the race. “I had three punctures today and three bike changes, so it was not ideal. I had a super strong team to bring me back…., but then I was already a little bit cooked. When I was with Wout, there was not much freshness in the legs to really drop him on the cobbles.”
It was van Aert who made the decisive move of the race with 54km to go when he attacked on a difficult cobblestone section as van der Poel, riding in a group that included Ganna, had reduced his arrears to a mere 44 seconds. Only Pogačar and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) managed to ride with van Aert, and the Dane soon faded, unable to keep the pace set by the Belgian. From then on it was a two-man race, with Pogačar trying to overpower van Aert and the Belgian grimly clinging to his wheel.
“When [Wout] first time attacked, I still believed that I could counter-attack him, but he rode super smart afterwards, and we shared the work quite well,” Pogačar said. “I still had a hope in the sprint, but when I started the sprint, my legs were like spaghetti.”
But their collaboration was good enough to keep van der Poel at bay to the end. He finished fourth, only 15 seconds behind, a remarkable performance considering how far behind he had fallen. Jasper Stuyven broke away from the chase group with 2km left to ride to take the final podium spot.
Results Men’s 2026 Paris-Roubaix
- Wout van Aert, Visma–Lease a Bike 5:15.52
2: Tadej Pogačar, UAE Team Emirates–XRG “
3: Jasper Stuyven, Soudal Quick-Step 0:13
4. Mathieu van der Poel, Alpecin–Premier Tech 0:15
5. Christophe Laporte, Visma–Lease a Bike “
6. Mick van Dijke, Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe “
7. Mads Pedersen, Lidl-Trek “
8. Stefan Bisseger, Decathlon CMA CGM 0:20
9. Nils Politt, UAE Team Emirates–XRG 2:36
10. Mike Teunissen, XDS Astana “
